Santa Clara turns it around

Art Spander, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, February 10, 1996

SANTA CLARA - The University of San Diego began the second half Friday night with four turnovers, unable to even get off a shot for 2-1/4 minutes. Considering what happened before intermission, that may have been a huge break for the Toreros.

San Diego did grasp that the idea in basketball is to put the ball into the basket, but by then Santa Clara was up by something like a zillion - well, only 28 - and nothing really mattered.

So, a week after the Broncos lost, 74-63, to a San Diego team that shot 60 percent from the field, the Broncos won, 72-52, over a San Diego team that shot 43.9 percent from the field - 26.3 percent in the first half.

"We were a little more aggressive tonight than the last couple of weeks," said Santa Clara coach Dick Davey, after his team had moved back into a first-place tie in the West Coast Conference with Gonzaga and USF at 6-3.

Since the Dons and Broncos play Saturday night at Santa Clara's Toso Pavilion, at least one of those teams will have dropped back.

Which is a perfect description of what San Diego (9-11, 3-6) did at about the five-minute point.

Brian Miles' 16-foot jumper had lifted the Toreros into a 13-10 lead with 14:47 left in the half. But the next time San Diego scored, on another Miles jumper, it trailed, 23-13, with 9:23 to go.

"The last couple of weeks we had been very unhappy with the way we played defense," said Santa Clara's 6-foot-10 center Brendan Graves. "Tonight, some of it might just have been pride. The big guys were very unhappy. We weren't going to let them get shots."

And they didn't, although San Diego coach Brad Holland, who a long while ago was in the last class John Wooden recruited at UCLA, said there was more than what Santa Clara did. There was what San Diego didn't do.

"We went 8-for-19 on the foul line in the first half," reminded Holland. "When you go 8-for-19, you complicate your defense. You stand around and don't get back. What our team hasn't figured out yet is what it takes to compete in a consistent manner."

Santa Clara (15-6) figured out what it took to beat San Diego - a matchup zone that was put in the last few days.

"We were horrible offensively and horrible defensively last week down there," Davey noted.

This week, Graves and point guard Steve Nash each scored 13 for the Broncos, who, despite controlling the game still got outshot from the floor. San Diego, after hitting 59 percent in the second half, finished at 43.9, the Broncos at 43.6.

"There's a difference when you're at home or on the road," said Davey. "You feel more comfortable at home. But you've got to win on the road."

The Broncos were favorites to dominate the WCC but they haven't. And after each win Davey is asked the obligatory question of whether the team is now going in the proper direction.

"I'll tell you when the season is over, not now," said Davey. "We want to win our next five games and get to the (WCC) tournament as the No. 1 seed." &lt;

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